Hampshire teacher being investigated for relationship with student

HAMPSHIRE – A Hampshire High School teacher is being investigated for a possible inappropriate relationship with a student.

The 23-year-old female teacher performed sex acts on the then-17-year-old male student and provided him answers to her tests, police said in documents supporting a search warrant issued to obtain the teacher’s phone. A search warrant also was issued for the student’s phone, which he later gave up voluntarily.

The teacher – who has been placed on paid administrative leave by District 300 – isn’t being identified because she hasn’t been charged with a crime.

According to details submitted by the Hampshire Police Department to obtain the search warrant, police first became aware of the situation through a friend of the student involved, who informed the school’s principal. Those involved were interviewed by police April 29.

That friend later told police the student involved told him he met the teacher in the parking lot of a Hampshire restaurant, where they “made out” and she performed a sex act on him, according to the warrant.

The friend – who said he learned of the incidents sometime in 2013 before winter – said the teacher declined to have sex with the student because he was not yet 18, the warrant said.

The student involved told police the sex act was performed between late January and early February, according to the warrant. The student turned 18 in late January.

The age of consent in Illinois is 17, but 18 when the acts involve teachers or individuals in a position of authority over youth.

The teacher initially agreed to provide the phone to police during her interview with them. But after retrieving it from her classroom and signing a consent form, police asked her whether she had deleted any messages, the warrant said.

The teacher replied that she had, and that one of the messages said, “Hey babe.” She was asked whether a relationship of a sexual nature would be revealed when police investigated, and she replied, “could be,” the warrant said. When asked to elaborate, the teacher asked for a lawyer. She was given back her cellphone.

District 300 spokeswoman Allison Strupeck said a Hampshire High staff member has been placed on paid administrative leave within “the last couple of weeks.”

She confirmed the staff member was placed on leave because of the ongoing police investigation.

The staff member will remain on leave for the duration of the investigation, Strupeck said.